


For Eric

by FlynnieG



Category: Sex Education (TV)
Genre: Adam is Trying His Best, Eric is dramatic, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Kissing, M/M, Post Season 2, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22726294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlynnieG/pseuds/FlynnieG
Summary: For the first time in his life, Eric has a real boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, that boyfriend is Adam Groff.(aka: Adam tries to plan a romantic surprise; Eric immediately panics and assumes the worst)
Relationships: Eric Effiong/Adam Groff
Comments: 16
Kudos: 217
Collections: DarkBloodWolf13's Collection





	For Eric

“Adam, I cannot believe this. How can you sit there and tell me that you have never seen _Kill Bill_?”

“Dunno. Never been big into films I suppose.”

Ola tsked, shaking her head disappointedly. She couldn’t believe she was actually friends with someone so uncultured.

“Ah, man, it’s a classic! You would absolutely love it. Uma Thurman goes around killing people with a katana while she’s wearing this kickass yellow jumpsuit – _very sexy_.”

Adam pursed his lips and nodded, his gaze fixed off somewhere in the distance, as it often was. Ola didn’t mind it, despite the fact that poor eye contact would normally tick her off. With Adam, it didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention. She knew Adam listened to her. He was a very good listener.

The two were perched on a small bridge overlooking the river that ran through town. The sun was beginning to set on the water, bathing them in a soft, orange glow. Whenever they hung out, they often found themselves here. It was very peaceful and was also isolated enough that they could both spill their crazy sex stories without worrying about any interference from the rest of the gossipy student body.

Ola sat on the edge, her legs dangling off the side and swinging in the gentle breeze. She glanced up at Adam, a comparative giant when standing right beside her.

“It’s decided. That’s the next thing we’re watching for movie night,” Ola said, as she reached into her back pocket to set a reminder on her phone. “No getting out of it, Groff. You bring the popcorn.”

Adam made a small noise of acknowledgement before taking a long drag from his cigarette. Ola watched him for a moment before standing and making a grabby motion with her hand. Adam glanced down at cigarette then back at Ola a number of times before slowly offering it to her.

“You don’t smoke,” he stated, slowly bringing the lit cigarette closer to her.

“What can I say?” Ola puffed up her chest. “I’m a woman on the edge.”

“You’re not gonna like it.”

Ola narrowed her eyes. She stared directly at Adam as she deeply inhaled.

Instant regret.

A small squeak escaped from the back of her throat. She desperately attempted to conceal it, but Adam knew her too well to fall for it. He bit back a laugh as he watched her “nonchalantly” clear her throat. Leaning down against the metal guard rail, he intently watched Ola’s clear agony with glee.

“Doing alright there?”

Ola nodded, scrunching up her face. She was not going to let Adam be right. Not on her watch.

Tired of waiting for the inevitable, Adam finally sighed.

“Come on, any day now.”

Ola gave Adam a quick look of pain through glossy eyes, before surrendering. She leaned over the railing and wheezed, nearly hacking up a lung in the process. Smiling broadly, Adam plucked the cigarette from between her fingers.

“Aw,” he cooed, patting her on the back, “my little woman on the edge.”

“That sucked,” Ola croaked. “That sucked so much. How do you do that?”

“Heh, lots of practice I guess. Don’t worry, I coughed like that the first time I smoked.” Adam paused for a moment before laughing and shaking his head. “I was ten.”

“Alright, alright. Fuck off, then.” Ola gave him a shove before checking the time on her phone. “Getting late. We’d best head off.”

Adam nodded, gaze stuck to the ground like a kicked puppy. He took one final hit off of the cigarette before tossing it off the bridge. Ola shrugged on her jacket and turned back to Adam.

“You wanna come along?” She tempted. “Dad’s making Garbage Soup for dinner.”

Garbage Soup was a Nyman home specialty made once a month. It involved Ola’s father taking one look at all of the leftovers in their fridge, saying, ‘ _För fan i helvete! Why is there so much garbage in here_?’ and then tossing it all into a soup pot. The results were varied, but generally pretty delicious. It was one of Adam’s favorite meals.

Cocking his head to the side Adam openly considered it for a moment. He rarely passed up an opportunity to go to Ola’s. For whatever reason, Adam and her dad got along really well, despite having only ever said a handful of words to each other. Maybe their souls were bonded by the large, stoic man energy they constantly exuded.

Eventually, Adam sucked in his cheeks and shook his head.

“Maybe next time,” he said. “I promised my mum I’d eat dinner with my dad.”

The pair began to walk off of the bridge. Ola stepped behind the taller boy. He bent down so she could hop onto his back. Early on in their friendship, they had found that Adam liked giving piggyback rides and Ola liked being carried. It was a win-win for all involved.

“Oof. Sounds like a gas. Is he still living at that hotel?” Ola asked, resting her chin on top of Adam’s head.

Adam kicked at a pebble that was in front of his feet. It bounced a few feet ahead of him before settling back into his path.

“It’s a _motel_ ,” he mumbled. “And yeah. It’s a real shitshow.”

“Yikes.” She sat for a moment, unsure how to continue. Adam really didn’t like talking about family stuff, and it was obvious why. Ola slid down Adam’s back so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders. This was partially for balance, but also to show her friend support. “I’m sorry, man.”

“Not your fault.”

He kicked the pebble again, harder this time. It sailed into some shrubs, frightening a little, gray squirrel who had been living inside them. Ola stifled her laughter into Adam’s shoulder as he quietly apologized to the woodland creature.

“It’s not your fault either, you know?” Ola shifted forward so she could see his face; he pointedly looked down and away.

It was like this pretty much any time his parents’ divorce was brought into the conversation. Ola desperately wanted to shake him by the shoulders and assure him that he was not to blame and that everything would be alright. But, she knew better than to press him on the touchy subject. He wouldn’t believe her anyways.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while. Ola even noticed that her eyelids would droop shut from time to time as she slowly drifted in and out of consciousness.

She leaned her face into the back of Adam’s head, her nose buried in his freshly grown-out hair. It smelled shockingly clean. She could only attribute this to Eric and his constant peddling of the finest self-care products. Having a doting boyfriend was doing wonders for Adam, that was for sure.

Eventually, Adam came to a stop down the street from Ola’s home. He gently shook her awake. She slid down off his back and gave him a small pat of gratitude.

“I’ll catch you later, alright?” Ola yawned as she began to walk down the dirt path leading to her house. “Don’t forget! Popcorn! Kill Bill double feature, baby!”

Adam gave her a small, but genuine smile. “Friday, right?”

Ola stopped dead in her tracks. She scoffed and gave Adam a cockeyed look.

“What?” Adam said.

“You’re joking,” Ola said, apprehensively. “Please, please, tell me that you’re joking.”

He threw up his hands in frustration. “What?!”

“Adam.” The small girl approached him and placed her hands squarely on his shoulders, hoping to somehow ground him. “Friday ... is Valentine’s Day.”

Adam froze. His eyes widened as the mental puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

“No. No, it’s not.”

“Yes it is.”

“No.” Adam firmly pointed at her, as if he could somehow manage to alter the date by simply just stating it out loud. “Next Friday is Valentine’s Day. Stop saying it’s this Friday.”

“Did you not make plans with Eric?”

“Shit.”

“Oh, my God. You forgot!” Ola choked out a laugh.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.”

Slowly, Adam crumbled to the ground and sat in a huddle on the curb. Balling up his hands into tight fists, he grabbed hold of his worn, brown leather jacket as if it was his only lifeline.

“Oh, Adam, you are delightfully screwed, my friend!”

In one swift motion, Adam flung himself onto his back, his arms covering his face. He lay there in the grass, groaning out various curses.

“It’s over. I’m done. I am officially the world’s worst boyfriend,” Adam sighed. “They’re gonna make a statue of me and put it in the middle of town.”

Ola felt an empathetic pang in her chest. She scooted over next to her friend and sat beside him.

“How on Earth did you manage to forget? Eric literally will not stop talking about it!”

Adam let out a pathetically small moan, burying his face even deeper into his jacket. This would be the very first Valentine’s Day Eric would be spending with an official boyfriend. He knew this because Eric had “casually” mentioned it approximately 60 times a day for about a month.

“I didn’t forget.” His voice sounded meek and small. “I had something really cool planned but there’s no way it’s gonna be ready by Friday. I. Am. _Fucked_.”

“Aw, Adam. Come on, now,” Ola said. “Eric will understand.”

“I know. I just ...” Adam trailed off.

He rubbed his eyes with his palms before sitting up. He bunched up his knees close to his chest and rested his chin on them.

Oh, God. Eric probably had something planned. It was probably something wonderful and special and heartfelt. Adam could cry. He was truly the biggest arsehole on the face of this planet.

Suddenly, he shot up from the ground like a wind-up toy.

“Will you help me?”

Ola blinked. “W-what?”

“I know I can finish Eric’s gift in time, but I need you to help me,” Adam pleaded, grabbing onto Ola’s arm. “If we work all night long, I don’t know, maybe we could do it.”

She inhaled through her teeth. “Oh, Adam. I don’t know.”

He jumped down onto his knees and clamped his hands together.

“Please, Ola. Please. I’ll do anything.”

Ola narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, staring down at the taller boy reduced to a pitiful pile on his knees. She wanted to help Adam, but she had a life of her own to worry about. Her schedule was already so jam packed with extracurriculars and study sessions. Not to mention, she was in a relationship as well.

Despite all this, seeing Adam in such a sorry state effectively twisted her arm. She pressed her fingers against her temples and took a deep breath, beginning to imagine the numerous ways Adam could pay her back.

“Anything, you say?”

\--

“Okay, what year was the Amicable Grant imposed on England?”

Adam hummed softly before slowly moving in to place a series of gentle kisses into Eric’s neck, traveling upwards until he reached his mouth.

Eric giggled, allowing this to continue for a few seconds before nudging him off.

“No, no, no. Adam, that’s cheating! You know the rules.”

The two sat facing each other on Eric’s bed, legs comfortably crossed and a study guide between them.

In order to secure Adam’s place at school, he and Eric had started having weekly “study sessions” to make sure that Adam didn’t venture into academic probation territory. Granted, not much studying ended up getting done after they had implemented their one-kiss-per-correct-answer policy. It had started out well, since Adam was willing to work very, very hard to get his coveted reward. However, he had eventually found a way to exploit the system through the minor loophole that Eric was very interested in kissing him regardless of if he responded to the question or not.

“One more,” Adam crooned, cupping his fingers around the bottom of Eric’s chin.

Eric rolled his eyes before pushing their lips together once again. Adam nipped at Eric’s bottom lip softly, smiling into the kiss. It was sheer bliss. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to get lost in the moment. With Eric, every kiss felt like it was his first time. He had never experienced that before, even with Aimee. Adam’s eyes were still half-lidded when Eric pulled them apart.

“So, Amicable Grant?” Eric said, running a finger down Adam’s lips.

“1525,” Adam whispered smugly.

“That’s right!” Eric grinned and placed a quick kiss on Adam’s cheek. “See, you didn’t even need to cheat our system, you sneaky boy!”

Adam shrugged. “Cheating’s more fun.”

Giggling, Eric shoved Adam in the chest and the two settled down onto the former’s comforter.

They spent most of their weekday evenings in Eric’s room, despite Eric’s protests that his sisters were annoying and disruptive. Adam couldn’t help it. He loved everything about the space. It was an explosion of Eric’s colorful personality, absolutely covered wall to wall with anything and everything he unabashedly loved.

Adam hadn’t mentioned it yet, but he had noticed that a picture of the two of them had earned a place on his nightstand. It was a selfie Eric had taken while they were sitting together in the junkyard after his brief stint in military school. It had been very early in the morning and, according to Eric, the lighting had been exceptional. He had been posing up a storm and Adam had just become overwhelmed with adoration. Right before Eric had taken the final picture, Adam had leaned in and planted a kiss behind his ear. Adam loved that picture, because he had captured the very moment when Eric’s eyes lit up and sparkled with joy and surprise. He only wished that there were pictures of the series of kisses that followed.

There was a knock at the two; the boys sat up, but stayed close. Mrs. Effiong poked her head inside, a cheerful grin on her face.

“Boys, we’re leaving for church in a few minutes,” She chirped. “Be ready, okay?”

“Right! Thanks, Ma,” Eric said, casually smoothing his button-down shirt.

He climbed over Adam and rustled around in his nightstand drawer until he pulled out a well-loved rosary. He stood up and went over to his mirror. Adam climbed onto his stomach and delighted in watching Eric’s primping routine. He always was fascinated by the sheer amount of time Eric could spend looking at himself in the mirror. To be fair, Adam couldn’t even begin to count the amount of hours he’d spent staring at Eric from across the room.

He pulled his focus away from Eric when his phone chimed in his pocket (a sound that used to be somewhat rare for him). He pulled it out to find a text from Ola:

 **OLA** : r we good for tonight ?? what is plan ?

“Are you still coming along?” Eric looked back at him and asked, hopeful. “Our pastor has heard quite a bit about you from my parents.”

Nipping at his thumbnail, Adam looked up and sighed. “No, I don’t think I can.”

Eric mock pouted, sticking out his upper lip. “Aww, why not?”

Adam panicked. He hadn’t actually come up with a proper excuse yet.

“Taking Madam to the groomers.”

Eric paused for a moment. “Huh. Could’ve sworn she just went.”

Shit. Eric was always one step ahead of him.

Eager to move the conversation forward, Adam stood up and joined him at the mirror. He snaked his arms around Eric’s middle and he gave him a squeeze. Tentatively, Eric shifted in his arms to face his boyfriend.

“Sorry.” Adam brushed their foreheads together and stared into Eric’s dark eyes. “Next time, okay? I promise.”

Eric linked their pinkies, a small smile peeking through on his face.

“I’m holding you to that, you know.”

After a moment, Adam reluctantly slipped his finger from Eric’s grasp. He grabbed his bag from off the ground. The two walked down the stairs together.

Eric joined his family in the living room, while Adam made his way to the doorway.

“See you later,” Adam whispered, slipping out.

Eric waved goodbye as he joined the rest of his family in the living room.

Once outside, Adam answered Ola’s message:

 **ADAM** : meet me @ the school

 **OLA** : ur welcome.

 **ADAM** : thank you thank you thank you

 **ADAM** : do you own spray paint btw

\--

Ola was abruptly jolted awake by her girlfriend tapping her on the shoulder with her tentacle-shaped pen. She reflexively shoved her book off the table and was promptly startled by the loud sound it made. Everyone else in the library openly stared at her. Ola covered her face with her hands, while Lily clicked her tongue in reaction.

“You’re tired,” Lily said, matter-of-factly.

“Yeah,” Ola sighed, getting on her knees to pick up her textbook. “I am.”

After picking up some supplies (ranging from the requested spray paint and a wide variety of snacks), she and Adam had gone straight to work constructing Eric’s gift. They had been at it all night and it felt like barely any progress had been made. After sneaking home way past her curfew, Ola had hopped into bed and slept for approximately 30 seconds before being abruptly woken up by her incredibly rude alarm clock.

Helping out Adam was going to be absolute hell on her sleep schedule.

“Sorry, where were we again?”

Lily looked down at her own workbook. “Well, I’m on number 17 and you stopped answering my questions around number 11, so I would guess you’re somewhere around there.”

Ola gave her a playful slap on the arm. “Why wouldn’t you wake me up if you knew I was sleeping? This is due tomorrow!”

“You looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to bother you,” Lily cooed. Ola bashfully waved off her sweet comment. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you copy my answers.”

Lily scooched the book closer to her girlfriend and Ola squeezed her hand appreciatively.

“Thank you.” She began scribbling down Lily’s answers messily into her own notebook.

The two girls hadn’t had much time to themselves these last few days. They usually spent their evenings curled up in Lily’s room watching cheesy sci-fi movies with a big bowl full of popcorn between them. However, for the foreseeable future, those plans had promptly been placed on the back burner as Ola would be out with Adam until all hours of the night. Thankfully, Lily had made plans. She was in the middle of a very intensive online role-playing session with her Norwegian friend she had met on the dark web, which required a lot of time-consuming Klingon translations. Nevertheless, it didn’t mean she didn’t miss hanging out with Ola.

“How much longer do you need to help Adam out?” Lily asked, leaning against the table to comfortably watch Ola while she caught up.

“A few more days or so,” Ola yawned, making a more-or-less gesture with her free hand.

“And you still aren’t planning on telling me what you’re helping him with?”

Ola snickered without looking up from the workbook. “A-nope. Sorry, I was sworn to secrecy.”

Lily huffed. She hated being out of the loop.

After she finished writing out the last problem, Ola slid the book back over to her girlfriend and noted her disgruntled expression. She reached out and tilted her chin up with the tip of her pencil, so they were looking at each other. She bumped the tips of their noses together.

“I promise after this is all over, we are going to have some serious girlfriend time. Just you, me,” Ola leaned in close to Lily’s ear, “and the vibrator I happened to acquire.”

Lily’s mouth opened into an agape grin. “No way. I thought y-”

Ola coyly shushed her, placing a finger on her lips to cut her off. She mimed brushing dust off of her shoulders. “Woman on the edge, baby.”

\--

Eric was reading. Or, at least, he was desperately trying to read. However, in that moment, surrounded by his five sisters and a handful of their friends all seemingly determined to scream at the loudest frequency possible, the most he had been able to accomplish was read the same sentence approximately 15 times.

“Eric!” His sister Anthea chirped as she flounced over from across the room and snuggled up close into her brother’s personal space. “What time’s Adam coming over?”

“He isn’t.” Eric prayed this would be the end of the conversation.

“Why not?” Anthea whined, slumping herself against her older brother. A split second later, he was pushing her off. “You promised he would come over tonight!”

Eric tightened his mouth into a thin line, keeping his eyes glued to the page. “I dunno. He said he had something else he needed to do. Go away now. I’m busy.”

Anthea pouted, smooshing her cheek against his shoulder. “You should have made him come. He promised he would bring Madam and show me the new trick he taught her.”

“I can’t control him, you know,” Eric hissed, slapping the book shut and finally admitting to himself that it was never going to happen under these conditions. “And what are you doing going around making plans with him anyways?”

“I never get to hang out with Adam! You’re hogging him!”

“Um, well ex-cu-se me for ‘hogging’ my own boyfriend!” Anthea stuck her tongue out. Eric crossed his arms and looked away, allowing his disappointment to spill out a tad bit. “I’ve barely seen him at all this week anyways. He’s been running off doing Lord knows what.”

“Do you reckon he’s cheating on you?”

“ _Anthea_!” Eric’s blood boiled. He had to physically stop himself from tackling his sister to the ground right then and there. “Where do you get off asking that, you little git?”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“No, Adam is not cheating on me, _thank you_.” He shot his sister a glare out of the corner of his eye. “He would never do that.”

“So, what’s he doing then?”

Eric opened his mouth, found nothing came out, and shut it.

The doorbell rang and Eric breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, his savior was here.

He practically skipped over to the front door and swung it open. In all her glory, Lily stood on the front step, clarinet case at her side. She started saying hello, but was abruptly cut off by Eric yanking her inside and pushing her up the stairs, desperate to get away from the gaggle of girls swarming in the living room.

“Ready to swing it up?” Eric cheered once his door was closed, muffling all of the noises coming from downstairs.

“Most definitely. Hurry up and get tuned.”

Eric nodded and grabbed his french horn from its resting place in the corner.

“Did you hear what happened to Tommy?” Lily asked, pulling out neatly folded sheet music from a folder in her backpack.

“No,” Eric gasped, eager to hear something hopefully juicy. He crawled over next to her on the bed. “Spill. Has he got crabs?”

“Yep. Guess who he got it from.”

“Mmmm.” Eric thought for a moment. “Carrie? No, wait. Georgina, right?”

“Think older. More hair. Less teeth.” Eric started to make another guess before Lily interrupted. “It was Mrs. Badilla.”

“No! As in _janitor_ Mrs. Badilla?” Lily shot him a wild grin and nodded. Eric’s draw dropped as he pushed out a shocked little squeak. “Wow. Who’da thunk it?”

“I know. And his girlfriend is fucking pissed. Apparently, she took all the love notes he had written her and set them on fire in front of his locker.”

Eric threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Ah, man! Happy Valentine’s Day, mate!”

Lily chuckled and hummed a small noise of agreement.

As Eric began tuning up his french horn, Lily quickly turned her face away in an attempt to hide her discomfort. Over the past few months, she had desperately tried to show her friend the proper way to play his instrument. However, it had been a fairly fruitless effort.

“Speaking of Valentine’s Day,” Lily shouted over Eric’s final sour note, “what are you and Adam going to be doing?”

“Oh.” Eric paused for a moment. “Um, I’m not really sure actually. We haven’t talked about it.” He looked over at his friend to see her wearing a pointedly concerned expression. “Why? Should we have?”

“Yes most definitely,” Lily stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Ola bought us tickets to a Monsters-N-Makeouts Movie Marathon ages ago.”

Eric looked away and bit down on his lip. He secretly had been wondering why Adam hadn’t mentioned anything about Valentine’s Day plans. It was only a few days away and every time he had tried to bring it up, Adam had briskly changed the subject.

He fiddled with a loose piece of skin under his nail. He knew that despite all his grand gestures, Adam was not a traditionally romantic person. It was hard to picture him buying a bouquet of flowers or a big stuffed bear. Still, had he really not planned anything? Or maybe did he specifically not want to do anything with him at all?

Lily sensed the distress this conversation was causing her friend. Geez, could Adam really be that thick? Eric was essentially a walking personification of everything Valentine’s Day stood for, dramatics and all. Maybe if he and Ola hadn’t been running around doing God knows what, he could’ve put something together for him.

 _Oh_.

In an instant, everything came together and Lily could see the full picture. Ola had been helping Adam was a surprise for Eric. A surprise that she and her big mouth were about to spoil.

“But, I mean, who really cares about Valentine’s Day?” She scoffed. “Totally over-glorified holiday. It started out as a goat-slaughtering orgy and it’s all been downhill from there if you ask me.”

Eric halfheartedly chuckled, but was still clearly mulling everything over. Lily bit the inside of her cheek. She regretted saying anything.

“Alright, enough with all this mushy couples’ talk,” Lily said, triumphantly lifting up her clarinet in an attempt to change the conversation. “Let’s get started.”

Eric glanced at the framed photo of him and Adam on his nightstand before eventually bringing his instrument up to his mouth. Maybe he just needed to accept Valentine’s Day wasn’t for them.

\--

Adam was putting his books away at his locker when a pair of soft hands came around from behind him and covered his eyes.

“Guess who-o,” sang out a bright voice. Right on cue, butterflies flitted about in Adam’s stomach.

“Mr. Hendricks, obviously,” he said.

Still blindfolded, Adam felt around until he was able to get ahold of his locker door and close it shut. He lifted Eric’s hands from his eyes and turned so he could look back at him.

Eric was never one to show up at school without looking spectacular. Today, however, Adam noted that his boyfriend looked especially done up, damn near taking his breath away, Eric’s eyes were surrounded with vibrant, pink glitter and he had drawn two, small hearts on either of his cheeks, which matched the ones on painted his nails. He was wearing a tight, white polo, which would’ve looked plain on anyone else, but looked radiant on him, positively popping against his skin. It took everything inside of Adam’s being to not pull his boyfriend inside of the band room right then and there.

Eric totally noticed Adam’s drooling over his ensemble and basked in it for a moment longer than necessary. This was honestly one of his favorite aspects of being in a relationship.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Eric whispered as seductively as he could before brushing his Adam’s lips against his own.

Adam’s breath hitched. “Valentine’s Day?”

Panic progressively spread through his mind. Had he gotten the date wrong again? He could’ve sworn he had at least one more day to get everything together.

“Well, early Valentine’s Day I suppose,” Eric purred against his boyfriend’s cheek. “I’ve got something for you. I was too excited to wait.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Eric swung his bag over his shoulder and dug inside of it, shuffling around various loose papers and pens.

Truthfully, he had gotten his main gift for Adam about a month ago. Ever since he had just been holding onto it and wrapping it up in different types of paper until it looked perfect. Last night, after Lily had left, he placed it on the edge of his bed and stared at it. Maybe Adam just didn’t understand why Valentine’s Day was important. He just needed to show him how it was done.

After some time, he pulled out two small packages out of his bag. They were decorated with light pink paper and thick ribbon curls sprawling over the top.

Adam reached for the smaller one before Eric tutted and pulled them back.

“Ah, open this one first!” He motioned to the slightly bigger package.

Very gently, Adam peeled away the wrapping paper to reveal a pair of candy undergarments, which included a bra and panties. Adam’s face was bright red as he covered his mouth to stifle his laughter. Eric, on the other hand, was not shy about his laughter in the least bit.

“Now,” Adam started, picking up and dangling the bra by one of its strings, “are these for you or for me?” Eric began to cackle as, to his shock and delight, Adam bent his head down and bit off a little candy piece near one of the bra’s cups.

Eric’s infectious giggles bellowed through the hallway to the point where other students turned and looked at them.

“Okay okay! That one was kind of a joke. I saw them at the store the other day.” Eric wiped away a tear before looking back at Adam with overt bedroom eyes. “Although, if you would like to model them for me, I could arrange that.”

Adam gave him a playful look that said, ‘we’ll see,’ before biting off another piece of the bra. He hadn’t actually had time to eat breakfast this morning, so this would need to sustain him for a while.

“Open this one now! Come on!” Eric hopped up and down in place.

Adam grabbed one more piece off of the surprisingly tasty bra before trading it over to Eric for the still-wrapped present. He tore this one open to be met with a shiny black case. He flipped it open to find a brand new harmonica. It was elegantly inscribed, _For My Detention Pal_.

“The one you used in the band room seemed a bit out of tune.” Eric shly looked away as Adam took it out of the case to examine it. “Do you like it?”

Looking up at Eric his eyelashes, Adam felt his heart in his throat. He adored this boy with every inch of his soul.

“I love it.” He planted a kiss on Eric’s cheek.

Taking a step closer, Eric reached out and ran the tips of his fingers over Adam’s hands. “Do you promise to play Careless Whisper for me?”

“Only if I can wear the bra and panties at the same time.”

Eric chuckled. “It’s a date.”

A text notification came out of Adam’s pocket and he subsequently cursed the damn thing for pulling him away from this lovely little moment. He covertly checked it, hoping it was some spam text that he could just brush off and continue what he was doing. Unfortunately, it was from Ola.

 **OLA** : SOS SOS SOS SOS

He scrunched up his brow. Ola was usually pretty straightforward in her messages, but he had no idea what this was about.

A slightly-disgruntled Eric peaked over Adam’s shoulder to see what the hold up was, but Adam, concerned that Ola might say something related to Eric’s surprise, pulled away in response. Eric was visibly stunned. He and Adam were _never_ shy or secretive about what they did on their phones. Seeing his dazed reaction, Adam shot him a shaky, apologetic smile.

Eric crossed his arms and cocked his brow as high as it would go. “What is it?”

More notifications sprang up.

 **OLA** : TARP WE PUT ON THE WALL DID N O T STAY PUT!!!  
**OLA** : GET HERE NOW !!!!! ERIC COUL D SEE IT BEFORE I TS DOnE!!!

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Adam made a lame attempt to soothe him. Eric was not buying it. “I’ve gotta go.”

“What?” He sputtered out as Adam began to make long strides down the hallway. Eric chased after him and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. “Adam, listen. If this is about what I think it is-”

Adam slowed and turned back to him. “It’s nothing! I promise! I just have to go! Like right now!”

He wriggled Eric’s hand off of his jacket, gave his knuckles a quick smooch. He stumbled off down the hallway, leaving Eric to stand alone in the crowded school corridor, more confused than he was before.

\--

“Adam is going to leave me.”

Otis choked on the mozzarella stick he was currently in the process of swallowing.

“Where in the _world_ did you get that idea?” Otis said after spitting out the piece of cheese that had nearly clogged his windpipe into a napkin.

Eric crossed his arms and looked off into the distance dramatically.

“He hasn’t been spending nearly enough time with me,” he muttered.

“And how long has this been going on?” Otis asked.

Eric pursed his lips. “Three days,” he mustered out, feeling a bit silly saying it out loud.

Unable to help himself, Otis let out a genuine laugh. “Okay. You’re being a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“No, I am not!” Eric harrumphed. “Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and it seems like he barely wants to see me! It’s like he doesn’t even care!”

Initially, Otis had not been a fan of Adam. It had come from an understandable place of concern. This was the person who had relentlessly bullied his best friend for years and now they were suddenly sweethearts? It was off-putting to say the least.

This had led to some uncomfortable hangout sessions where Otis would spend the entire time staring down the larger boy, leaving Eric to play the overly-cheerful mediator.

However, a few months ago, at one of Aimee’s parties, Eric had gotten particularly wasted to the point where Otis had been extremely concerned for his friend’s safety. Just as Otis had begun to panic, like a knight in shining denim, Adam had silently scooped Eric up in his arms like he weighed nothing. Drunk Eric had practically melted into his arms as he carried him out of the Gibbs’ mansion. Otis had followed closely behind them, making absolute certain that nothing sketchy was afoot.

Of course, nothing had happened and he and Adam had made quick work of sneaking a dozing Eric up to his bedroom. Adam had spent the night with him and had even texted Otis occasional status updates without being asked to.

After that display, Otis had apprehensively become a fan of the pairing. After giving him a chance, he found that Adam truly wasn’t that bad of a guy. More importantly, it was clear that he cared for his best friend just as much as he did. Thus, whenever Eric was irrationally convinced that they were headed for Splitsville, Otis usually played the Team Adam defense.

“Maybe he’s planning a surprise.”

“Oh, please,” Eric said. He slumped down against the sticky, cafeteria table. “Adam is horrible at surprises. He is the absolute worst liar in the world. If he was planning something I would’ve figured it out by now.” A frustrated growl rose the back of Eric’s throat. “I don’t know what’s up with him. He’s never acted like this before.”

“Really?” Otis hummed, putting on his therapist facade for a moment. “Do you think the holiday is what’s getting to him?”

“It shouldn't,” Eric answered, promptly. ”I don’t care that he probably didn’t get me anything. It’s fine!”

“Is it, though?”

“I mean,” he sucked in his cheeks, thinking it over, “it’s not ideal. I don’t wanna seem materialistic or anything, but it would be nice to get something, you know?”

“You don’t sound materialistic,” Otis reassured. “You sound like you know what you want.”

Eric murmured a quiet acknowledgement, his mouth buried in his arms.

“Where is he now?” Otis said, leaning down to Eric’s eye level.

“He said that he was going to the library to study with Ola. I mean,” Eric made a face, “come on.”

“Okay, that definitely does not sound like Adam,” Otis admitted, scratching at his neck.

“Aha!” Eric flailed his arms about wildly. “See! _See_!”

“Okay, okay, listen,” Otis grabbed Eric by the wrists. “Talk to him. You’re never going to figure out what he’s up to just by sitting here speculating with me. Communication is key in a healthy relationship.” Eric shot him a ‘don’t-therapize-me’ look that Otis chose to ignore. “And, hey, give him a chance. Maybe he’s really studying with Ola right now. He might be trying to do better so he can stay in school with you.”

Eric pouted, sticking out his lip. He mumbled something under his breath.

Otis grinned. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

He mumbled it again, only slightly louder.

“I’m sorry, Eric. I’m just,” Otis lifted his ear closer to his friend, “having a little trouble hearing you there.”

“I SAID ‘YOU ARE RIGHT!’ ARE YOU SATISFIED NOW, YOU SMUG, LITTLE MAN?”

Otis cocked his eyebrow and gave Eric a huge shit-eating grin.

“Very satisfied, thank you.”

Eric snatched one of Otis’ mozzarella sticks in retaliation.

\--

 **OTIS** : Adam, we need to talk.

 **ADAM** : who is this

 **OTIS** : It’s Otis.

 **OTIS** : Otis Milburn.

 **OTIS** : You called my mum a sexy witch.

 **ADAM** : lol oh yea

 **OTIS** : What is going on with you and Eric? He’s really freaking out.

 **ADAM** : why

 **OTIS** : He thinks you’re going to leave him because you’ve been ditching him all week.

 **ADAM** : dont worry im not leavin him

 **OTIS** : Well, what are you doing then?

 **ADAM** : im workin on somethin

 **OTIS** : What?

 **ADAM** : cant tell you

 **OTIS** : Oh? Why not?

 **ADAM** : ever heard of somethin called a surprise

 **OTIS** : I can keep a secret.

 **ADAM** : doubt it

 **ADAM** : just trust me

 **ADAM** : please

 **OTIS** : ... Okay, okay, I believe you. You’d better be telling the truth.

 **OTIS** : Need I remind you that I will take you to Pound Town if you hurt him >:(

 **ADAM** : lol damn new kid ok

\--

Ola moaned and rubbed her back. “Please tell me we’re done here, Adam. This is literally the most tired I’ve ever been.”

Adam looked up at the brick wall in front of them. He wiped the sweat off his brow.

“I think so. Christ, I can’t believe we actually did it.”

The two stood in the dull, morning light in their paint-stained clothes. February 14 was about an hour and a half away. They had worked in shifts throughout the night, the lack of sleep finally catching up to them.

They exchanged a glance before collectively collapsing onto the cold concrete. For a moment, they just laid there next to each other, silently staring up at the stars.

Adam lifted up his nails and squinted, trying to get a good look at them in the dark. Just before he had headed off to meet Ola for the last time, Eric had grabbed his hands and insisted that he had no excuse for his nails being in such a sorry state. Adam even had to admit that they had looked a bit messy. He left an hour later than planned with a “fierce” navy blue manicure that Ola admitted was worth the wait. There had been a few unfortunate casualties throughout the course of the night as the polish had begun to chip on most of his nails. He felt bad seeing Eric’s hard work go to waste like this and knew Eric would be rightfully miffed about it.

“And how’s The Joyfucker working out for you guys?” Adam asked, cheeky. “Showin’ Lil a good time, I hope.”

Ola sputtered. “Adam!” She normally only talked about bedroom stories with Adam when she was under the influence in one way or another and tried to never directly bring up Lily’s name. “None of your business, perhaps?”

“Come on. I’m the one who bought it. Fair’s fair.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “Scale from 1-10?”

Ola was silent for a long time, refusing to make eye contact.

Before this week, she had been looking to buy a vibrator for quite some time. However, she hadn’t been able to order one online because her dad was a huge snoop and the last thing she wanted was him opening that package. And, of course, the one store in town that sold them was owned by a woman who had been her babysitter for almost six years. After several failed attempts, Ola had deemed that it was downright impossible to buy a sex toy while looking into the eyes of a sweet, elderly, Chinese woman whom she had used to play pattycake with.

Adam, on the other hand, had no issues getting ahold of one and had it in her hands before the end of the week. It was called ‘The Joyfucker,’ which he had found pretty damn funny. Of course Adam Groff’s sex toy selection process would involve picking one based on how comical the name was. Ola hadn’t expected anything different from him.

At the end of the day, it was a fair trade: hours and hours of painstaking labor for a decent vibrator.

Adam was still waiting patiently for an answer to his question. Eventually Ola held up eight of her fingers. He grinned ear to ear.

“Thata girl.” Adam gave her a soft tap on the shoulder with his fist. Ola laughed at the immaturity of what they were talking about, while also having no intention of stopping the conversation either. She returned a soft punch to the taller boy’s shoulder.

“Alright, alright,” Ola said as she slung her arm around the taller boy, which proved slightly awkward considering the height difference. “Now, go get your man!”

\--

Crickets chirped softly outside as Eric washed off the remnants of his face mask in his bathroom sink. He hadn’t seen Adam since their little rendezvous at the lockers earlier that day.

As he switched the light off in the bathroom, he heard a series of clinks coming from his bedroom window. The very sound sent shivers down his spine, triggering memories of late nights spent at the junkyard. He knew exactly who it was.

Peaking out his curtains, he saw Adam’s silhouetted figure looking up at him. He motioned for him to come down.

Eric huffed, but still grabbed his coat and rushed down the stairs as fast as possible.

\--

“Adam Groff, where are you taking me?”

Hand-in-hand, Adam led Eric through the dark field. He yanked his boyfriend close so they were nose to nose. Eric’s breath hitched in anticipation.

“You ask too many questions,” He whispered before leading them forward. Eric groaned loudly in response.

“Come on, now,” Eric huffed, dragging his feet. “I’m freezing!” He whined, despite the fact that he was currently wearing his boyfriend’s worn, brown leather jacket, which he had been able to pilfer from him through manipulative cuteness.

Adam let go of Eric’s hand as they approached the dilapidated school building. Despite the world being shrouded in darkness, Eric could clearly recognize the abandoned toilet block where he and Otis had spent many lunch periods discussing the sex problems of various Moordale students.

Adam grabbed a flashlight from the ground.

“You know what day it is?”

“Um, well it’s past midnight now, so Valentine’s Day, innit?” Eric guessed, a twinge of excitement building in his voice.

“That’s correct,” Adam said. He leaned in and gave Eric a chaste kiss on the lips; Eric happily obliged.

Adam approached one wall of the large brick exterior that was covered by a tarp. Eric had noticed the tarp’s appearance earlier in the week, but hadn’t really thought much of it. Adam flicked on the orange flashlight, illuminating the dew-covered grass. Without speaking, he gestured the light over to the tarp on the wall to give Eric the go ahead to tear it off.

Eric’s heart was thumping excitedly in his chest, the grin on his face immovably massive. In the blink of an eye, he ran up to the wall and began to yank on the sheet with the same ferocity as a child on Christmas Morning. Adam gave the opposite side a small tug, while still leaving the most of the unveiling work for Eric. It was his gift after all.

With one final wrench, Eric removed the tarp, letting it flutter to the group in front of him. While he took a few steps back to get a good look, Adam made sure to angle the light so everything was visible.

The mural was huge, spanning across the entire wall. It was an explosion of vibrant purple, green and gold in the shape of a heart. It was full-on glitter and glam, just like him. In the middle, there were bright white letters that were still clearly visible even in the dark. It read, “For Eric Kwabena Effiong.”

Hands over his agape mouth, Eric physically couldn’t take his eyes away. He had never seen his own name written so big before. It felt like someone on Saturn could see it.

“Adam,” Eric whispered, with nowhere to go from there. His heartbeat thrummed loudly in his ears.

For once in his life, Eric was speechless.

The silence stretched on until it became too overwhelming for Adam. He was usually a pretty quiet guy, but, in that moment, he felt like he needed to say something or he would burst into a million, tiny pieces.

“I was just going to have it say, ‘For Eric,’ but I didn’t want that Eric Duncun shithead thinking it was for him or nothing.” Adam let his fingers graze against Eric’s. “I wanted everyone to know it was just for you.”

The smile on Eric’s face was quite possibly the most beautiful Adam had ever seen. His eyes twinkled in the starlight.

The silence settled in once again. It forced Adam to get in his own head. Why wasn’t Eric saying anything? Had he done something wrong?

“Is your middle name spelled right?”

The unexpected question snapped Eric out of the dreamy haze as he let out a boisterous laugh and nodded.

Adam let out a loud sigh of relief. “Thank God!” He chuckled, running his fingers through his short hair. “I was so worried.”

“Adam,” Eric was glowing as he stood there, drinking in every last detail. “I don’t even know what to say. This is a-maz-ing.”

“You like it?” Adam felt like a ginormous weight had been lifted from his chest.

“I love it. No one’s ever done anything like this for me.” Eric finally turned his attention back to his boyfriend. When their eyes met, Adam’s stomach did a somersault.

“There’s, ah,” he rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly, “one more thing actually.”

Eric’s face lit up even more, which seemed downright impossible at this point.

“Just something small. Bit silly, but I figured,” Adam trailed off, feeling every iota of Eric’s attention focused on him with an almost overwhelming intensity.

He gestured down towards the right-hand pocket of his jacket, currently being worn by his boyfriend. Eric dug his hand in until he felt something crinkle against his fingertips. He stopped, knowing very well what it was before he even pulled it out.

“I figured I probably owed you one,” Adam said, unable to contain the shy smile growing across his face as he watched Eric gently run his thumb over the Curly Wurly’s plastic packaging.

Eric bit his lip, gaze still fixed on the candy bar. It was so hard to see the Adam he had come to know as that same person who had done all those horrible things to him.

Without warning, tears began to well in his eyes.

And just like that any positive feelings Adam had felt before plummeted to the bottom of his stomach like a rock. Oh, God. He had made Eric cry.

A pair of teardrops rolled down Eric’s cheeks and fell into the wool lining of Adam’s jacket. Adam rushed over to his side, all together unsure exactly how to respond to this reaction.

He had never even seen Eric cry before. God, what was he thinking? It was way too soon for him to joke about their complicated past like this. Eric could do it, sure. But, Adam had made his life hell. And he had done it for years.

“Shit. Shit. Eric, are you okay?”

Eric sniffled and turned his face away, so he could wipe the tears off his face. It felt like a kick in Adam’s stomach.

He was probably still afraid of him. Still afraid that one of these days he would go back to pushing him against lockers and stealing his shit. Someone like him could never change that much after all.

Adam mentally smacked himself for being so thick. He had gone and given his boyfriend a nervous breakdown for Valentine’s Day.

“I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean t-”

All at once, he was cut off by Eric jumping into a huge embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around his neck and made quick work of peppering small kisses all over every inch of Adam’s face.

Adam couldn’t breathe. Time was standing still and the world around him was a blur. Was this really happening? He choked out a laugh, feeling a warm blush spread across his cheeks.

Eric was able to finally remove his lips from his boyfriend for a moment, just long enough to get a good look at him. God, he was beautiful.

They nuzzled their foreheads together, choking out breathless laughter. Words could not begin to express the relief and sheer ecstasy Adam felt in that moment. Overcome with countless positive emotions, he grabbed ahold of Eric’s waist and spun them around like some sort of Disney Princess. Eric squealed in surprise.

Eventually, Adam placed his boyfriend down as delicately as he could. He reached up and brushed away one of the remaining tears from under Eric’s eye. His hand lingered on Eric’s cheek, noting how familiar this felt. He thought back to all of the times he had grabbed Eric’s face in the halls, demanding his attention and convincing himself that that was what he really wanted to do with him. The other boy leaned into his touch, pressing his lips into Adam’s palm. That part was new, but, God, he could get used to it.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Eric brought his mouth close to Adam’s ear, “Shit Biscuit.”

Adam beamed and closed the gap between them once again.

\--

“The school is gonna be totally po’ed that you did this. You know that, right?”

The two were situated across from Adam’s mural, bathed in the pale moonlight. Eric was snuggled up comfortably under Adam’s arm. He absentmindedly played with the pull strings on Adam’s hoodie, feeling content.

“Think so?” Adam laced their fingers together, staring straight ahead at his (and Ola’s) handiwork. He could care less how much trouble he got in. This feeling was worth any punishment the school could dish up.

Eric chuckled as he twiddled with one of Adam’s thumb. He noted the chipping nail polish and made a mental note to touch it up later. He was willing to date a boy known as the school flasher, but was absolutely not willing to have a boyfriend with such unfortunate fingernails.

“Vandalization is typically frowned upon.” Eric peaked up at him. “You’re probably gonna have detention for the rest of term.”

“Yeah,” Adam said, situating himself comfortably against the adjacent wall. “Don’t mind though. Maybe there’ll be a cute boy there with me and I can suck him off in the band room.” He pushed a soft kiss against the crown of Eric’s head.

“Ooo, you know, I rather like that idea.”

Eric scrunched up his face and smiled up at Adam; Adam smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was wondering, Kwabena is actually Eric's middle name! Ncuti has said it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFsFZdpb6GY) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pij77HGdERo&t=20s) :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! [Feel free to come pop in and say hi!](https://flynnieg.tumblr.com/)


End file.
